Game Over
by Ryan Phelan
Summary: Surrounded by death and destruction, one turtle stands alone...


**Is this part really necessary? Does anyone out there really believe I own the TMNT, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ninja Turles, or anything that has anything to do with ninjas or turtles? If so, please contact me asap…I have a some swampland in Florida for sale. **

Game Over

Michelangelo couldn't move. 

He wasn't restrained or injured in any way. It was Fear. Cold, hard, Fear held him in its paralyzing grasp. He was surrounded by burning rubble that was once New York City, with the screams of its dying citizens echoing in his ears, yet he didn't even notice them; it was the motionless forms of his brothers, lying broken and bloodied at the feet the Shredder, that kept him rooted where he stood. 

Michelangelo was the last turtle standing. But from the looks of things, he wouldn't be standing long. 

Raph had been the first to fall. As usual, the hot-headed turtle charged in without thinking. Leo always said that Raph's temper would be his undoing, and he was right; though technically the metal spikes of Shredder's gauntlet slicing him open from head o toe was Raph's undoing, Leo had been right in principle. 

Don went next. He fought with the same calculated precision he always did, striking blow after blow with ruthless efficiency. Unlike Raph, Donnie always kept a level head…until the Shredder severed it clean off his shoulders with the turtle's own bo staff. Then that level head went sailing through the air and bounced off the pavement like a basketball until it came to rest in the gutter; Donnie's final look of shock and disbelief, permanently etched on his face, now stared out at them like a grotesque jack-o-lantern. 

As traumatizing as it was to see two brothers fall in battle, Michelangelo found the strength to keep fighting as long as Leo was still by his side. Leo was Big Brother. Fearless Leader. No matter how bad things got, you could always count on Leo to…

Mike's thoughts were interrupted as the Shredder sent Leo sailing into a brick wall; his older brother made contact with a sickening _crack_ before sinking to the ground in a heap. 

Now Shredder turned his full attention to Mike. The last turtle dodged the Shredder's attacks again and again, unable to find an opening to strike, slipping in the blood that now stained the ground; yet he fought on, occasionally stealing glimpses at the still form of his oldest brother. _Get up, Leo! Mike _cried inwardly. _Get up get up get up get up…_

Miraculously, as if hearing his little brother's mental pleas, Leo stirred, and slowly got to his feet. Fresh energy surged through Mike's body; good old Leo, he knew he could count on him! With Leo by his side, the Shredder was doomed! 

Then suddenly the wall Leo was standing in front of toppled over, crushing him like a bug. Mike stared in horror as Leo's bodily juices slowly spilled out from underneath the rubble. Leonardo, Big Brother and Fearless Leader, now had a new title: Bug Pancake.

All of Mike's energy evaporated, leaving him in his current state of immobilizing Fear. The Shredder let out a cold, mocking laugh that pierced him as deep as any blade, penetrating his very soul. Michelangelo was silently thankful that he was too scared to wet himself; if he going to die, at least he would do so with a shred of dignity.

"Alone at last," the Shredder hissed. "It's almost a shame, really. Once I kill you, I will never again have the pleasure of doing so."

"What makes you so sure I won't kill you?" Michelangelo said in a last ditch attempt to sound tough. Unfortunately, it came out like a pathetic squeak. 

The Shredder laughed so hard he nearly doubled over. "Had it been any one of your brothers who said that, I might be concerned," he gasped. "But you are by far the weakest, most pathetic one of the lot. If I can destroy the _real_ threats, destroying you will be so easy it's hardly worth the effort."

At that moment, something stirred in Michelangelo…a hot anger that began to boil in the pit of his stomach. "What does that mean?" He growled.

The Shredder laughed again. "Geez, you're even stupider than I thought. Well, then, let me make it crystal clear for even the stupidest creature on the planet." He leaned closer to Mike and spoke loudly and slowly. "You are an idiot. A dolt. A moron. A moron squared. An embarrassment to your father. He would die of shame if I hadn't killed him. Do…you…understand?" Shredder asked, careful to enunciate every single word.

Mike's anger suddenly erupted into white-hot rage that surged through his body like a bolt of lightning, giving him the strength of ten turtles. With a bloodcurdling cry, he hurled himself at the Shredder, his nunchaku spinning as fast as helicopter blades, ready to take out the Shredder with a single

Mike's heroic battle charge was cut short by Shredder's sword; or rather Leo's sword, which the Shredder used to impale the turtle. Thoroughly defeated, Mike sank to the ground, his vision growing brighter and brighter as the gates of the Afterlife swung open to welcome him; right before he succumbed, one final image flashed before his eyes…

GAME OVER.

Michelangelo stared at the TV screen as those two words flashed over and over his dead virtual body, gripping his controller so tightly it looked as through it might snap in half at any moment. His brothers, sitting on the couch beside him and also clutching their controllers, stared as well. For a long moment no one spoke. 

Finally, Donatello broke the silence. "Well, guys," he said. "What do you think?"

"What do I think?" Raph said. "I think you're a lunatic! There's no way the Shredder could take me out that easily! He sure as shell wouldn't take me out before Mike!"

"Hey!" Mike instinctively snapped, but he was too transfixed by the digital carnage spread across the high definition widescreen TV before him to say anything else. 

"For once I agree with Raph," Leo said. "Don, I thought this training simulation was supposed to be realistic." 

"It is realistic," Don huffed. "Has it ever occurred to any of you that the Shredder could actually win? That maybe our victories have made us lazy and complacent to the point that we just might lose one day?"

His comments were met with blank stares.

"But we always win," Leo said.

"Yeah, we always win," Raph said.

"What they said," Mike said. 

"But what if we don't?" Don asked. "What then?" 

His brothers exchanged looks. "We always win, Don," Mike said slowly, as of talking to a confused child. "Haven't you been paying attention these last few years?"

"Look, it doesn't matter if we win the first one thousand times we battle Shredder!" Don sputtered. "He only needs to win once, as my program has so aptly demonstrated!" 

"That's another thing, Don. Did you have to make the graphics so…graphic?" Leo winced. The light from the TV screen bathed the brothers in a warm red glow. 

"Yes," Don hissed. "The Shredder is cruel and ruthless, Leo. Capable of_anything_. You should know that by now. I'm just driving that point home."

"Excuse me, brainiac, but the real Shredder would never do that!" Raph cried, pointing at the screen. Virtual Shredder, apparently not satisfied with just killing the turtles, was now skipping rope with virtual Mike's lower intestine. The real Mike let out an involuntary whimper. 

Don threw up his hands. "How would you know? You're dead! Talk to me when you're ready to face reality!" Thoroughly exasperated, the purple-clad turtle stormed off to his lab, loudly slamming the door behind him to emphasize just how po'd he really was. 

For a long moment Leo and Raph stared at the door to Don's lab in disbelief. Finally Raph broke the silence. "Anyone else think Donnie needs a nice long vacation?" 

"Agreed," Leo said. "He's starting to sound like Baxter Stockman. And who knows when's the last time that guy took a vacation?" 

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Mike groaned, his head now firmly placed between his knees. 

Raph glanced at the TV and quickly looked away. "Then whatever you do, don't look up."

Mike's head shot up. "Why? What's Shredder doing BAAAAARRF!"

THE END 


End file.
